Pinochet: Images of a Brutal Dictatorship

Everyone knows that famous picture of Che Guever in which he confidently looks into the distance. On the hippie scene of the XNUMXs, "El Komandante" became an icon of youth culture - and a symbol of idealist revolutionaries.

The picture of Augusto Pinochet is, on the other hand, a symbol of dictatorship. The general who 50 years ago, on September 11, 1973, violently overthrew the government of Salvador Allende, was a symbol of the negative in Europe - much more than any other Latin American dictator. Why him?

A coup before the eyes of the public

The coup d'état in Chile shocked the world more than the coup in Brazil in 1964. This is due to the presence of the media, historian Caroline Moan, a professor at the French University of Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, is convinced. "That coup did not happen at night, away from the public eye, but in front of the cameras, in front of the public eye. Many journalists were on the spot, so the images were quickly broadcast on small screens, even abroad."

Moan believes that this is exactly what the putschists wanted. "The army wanted people to see what was happening. They wanted not only to impress their opponents, but also those who supported them - both inside and outside the country."

And those scenes remained recorded in the collective memory.

The scenes of the bombing of the presidential palace "La Moneda" went around the world, just like the image of Pinochet in uniform, with dark glasses, expressionless face, sitting in front of his men.

For Juan del Alcazar, a professor of modern history at the University of Valencia, Pinochet is therefore the absolute opposite symbol of the ousted president (and doctor) Allende. "The figure of a friendly, empathetic and no doubt attractive man contrasts with the disgusting image of an unpleasant, authoritarian, despotic, and, moreover, criminal soldier," the professor points out.

A symbol of left-wing intellectuals

If the events in Chile are viewed in the context of the Cold War, then a dimension that goes beyond the borders of that country can also be observed. "In West Germany and in Europe, Allende was an important figure for many left-leaning intellectuals who symbolized the democratic path to socialism," Lase Lassen, a historian and researcher at Germany's University of Würzburg, told DW. "When he was overthrown, and especially since he was overthrown in such a brutal way, with the bombing of the presidential palace and his suicide, for the left in Europe it was a great turning point and the beginning of a new era. And Pinochet was the embodiment of the enemy."

Looking back at the time in which Europe was then, Caroline Moan observes the destroyed illusions: "Let's say in France and Italy at that time there were attempts to unite communist and socialist forces," she says. Just as it was done by "National Unity" (Unidad Popular), the pre-election alliance of left-wing Chilean parties led by Allende. What happened there was a model for many Europeans, something that raised many hopes, says Moan: "The coup marked the end of that project, it destroyed all those hopes."

Despite this, after Pinochet's coup d'état, a major international campaign was launched. This was initiated primarily by the communist, but also by the socialist parties. It was intended to portray Pinochet as the embodiment of evil, while at the same time glorifying the deposed president, emphasizes the French historian.

"Allende was a man who wanted to defend democracy in Chile and he died for that goal. Even in Europe, the idea of ​​heroes who are ready to die for their ideas is charged with emotion," says Moan, but also reminds that the various parties within the "National Unity" coalition were not always so united: "But, it was always said that Unidad A popular victim of the dictatorship, internal tensions and conflicts were not discussed in public. A kind of myth was created."

A brutal dictatorship

What appalled people, and not only the left-leaning ones, was the amount of brutality exercised by the putschists in Chile - although of course there was repression in other dictatorships in that region. "That military coup stood out from the rest for its cruelty, its extreme wickedness," says Juan del Alcazar.

The German historian Lasse Lassen, on the other hand, is of the opinion that the knowledge that the West had about the violation of human rights in Chile, and at the same time the increasing politicization of Europeans due to the growing tension in the Cold War, contributed to the coup in Chile being a topic that is very present in people's minds. But, as the scientist from Würzburg adds, "neither Franco nor Pinochet were condemned like Hitler, not even in their own countries. It is a complex process, which took a long time. And in which, politically speaking, there are many polemics."